Sri Lankans risk it all to seek asylum on tiny island near Africa

Before he decided to undertake a perilous 22-day journey by sea to Reunion, 35-year-old Balapu Waduge Prasad Indika Dilan Mendis had never heard of the tiny French island off the eastern coast of Africa.

On March 21 last year, two days after being set adrift on a raft without food or water following a boat mishap, six Sri Lankans including Mendis arrived.

"If we had not been seen by the tourists it would be over for us," he said of the ordeal; Reunion's waters are notorious for sharks. 

The six men had traversed 4,000km across the Indian Ocean that stretches between South Asia and Africa, crossing the equator along the way.

They came in search of Europe. More would follow.

It was the first of five boats that have brought 145 Sri Lankans to Reunion in less than a year. 

On February 5 this year, the latest and largest boatload arrived with 72 people on board, including eight women and five children. 

On February 14, 64 were deported after their asylum appeals were rejected.

Reunion, a former French colony which neighbours Mauritius, became an overseas department of France in 1946.